Finishing the Cruising Season

We have left Peter and Helen at the train in Luxembourg to commence their trip back to Australia. We will now make our way up the Moselle to Nancy and settle in there for the winter. We departed Remich at about 1100 hours on Monday 20^th October and plan to arrive in Nancy the following Thursday. The forecast was for unpleasant weather, strong winds and heavy rain over the next few days so we were going to take our time and be careful.

We had noted that in Remich there was an increase in the sculptures appearing around the town.

This was one we had seen before but as we wandered around, we found more:

Complete with model!!!

And going out of port, this double sized armchair – mosaic covered concrete.

 

Also this one, appropriate in the lead up to Halloween.

We were reminded of our friend Rhossie, collecting pictures of the sculptures in the streets of Melbourne.

On Tuesday, the weather closed in and we were finding travel difficult. Matilda does not like the wind and was being blown about and uncomfortable to steer. We arrived in Metz and took shelter on the end of the commercial grain terminal wharf where we wanted to stay until the weather settled.

We were concerned as even in this foul weather, the wharf was being used by commercials loading grain.

Empty Big Ben  swapped places with a loaded barge in a cross-over movement that we admired in the confines of the harbour.

There is a low bridge in the port and when empty, these ships have to drop their driving cabin to get under it.

We watched as this 110 metre barge coupled to its dumb barge making a vessel 170 metres long.

The vessel is so long that it had to back up under the bridge to line up for the lock. Note the crewman watching the clearance over the coach house,

We were sitting at dinner that evening while the storm raged when, outside we heard a heavy metal on metal noise followed by loud revving of a big motor. Looking out we saw that an empty freighter had tried to come under the bridge. (They work 24 hours.) He had wiped out his front mast and radar scanner and fortunately had stopped about 5 metres before his coach house hit the edge of the steel girders.

He was stuck

An hour later after flooding his cargo hold he was able to get out and continue. 

Sorry, no pictures. Too dark, wet and windy.

Next morning, after an exciting evening and with the weather eased, we continued, once again sharing with these large ships. The Moselle is a busy river but with a little understanding of how things work and some skill, using it is not too frightening.

We arrived in Nancy on the 23^rd  and set about bedding Matilda down for winter. There are a number of things that must be done at this time, including servicing the motor, the pumps and all those other bits of equipment on board as well as organising firewood and fuel to add to our comfort through the winter.

During the season the engine has been hard to start in the morning and had begun to “make smoke” in true battleship fashion. Peter has always been pleased the way the motor would always start on its first revolution. Investigation pointed to problems with the diesel injectors and metering pump so these were removed and we looked for a suitable service agent. We could not find anyone in France willing to take it on but searching the internet we found a Bosch service agent in Nuremburg who was willing.  

So, on Monday 17^th Nov. we hired a car and headed to Germany.

We were in Nuremburg about 6 hours later and headed straight for the workshops. We found they were actually part of the Bosch group of companies and had access to archival material on all the companies' products. Our contact turned out to be the Bosch Company’s specialist in vintage cars and motors. A great start!

Next day we saw some of the town which has great significance with the end of World War II. A lot of the city was destroyed during the war but most of the “Old City” behind the ancient city walls has been preserved.

The day was wet, cold and generally miserable so we did not go far. We walked to the Old City and looked around and were impressed by the massive city walls and the old buildings. The old town hall was completed in 1340.

The post war rebuild includes a subway system and many of the stations have an artistic touch. This is Rathenauplatz and the mosaic pictures in the tiles are best seen from just one point.

Our plans included stops at some other towns of historical importance and we next visited Bamburg.

This lovely old town has been here since the 7^th century. It has always been a religious centre of the area and has suffered very little from invasion and wars. Many buildings date from the 17^th century and earlier.

Unfortunately the weather was not very pleasant and Marg was suffering from a bad cough and chest infection so we cut our touring short and returned to Nancy to get her to a doctor. No great problem but with medication she will be right in no time.

We soon head back to Australia – for a holiday. There will be more to tell, so we will keep in touch.

Off to Luxembourg

We arrived back on Matilda on Saturday 27^th September and Peter and Helen were to be with us for a few weeks yet, so we decided we would visit Luxemburg. This meant taking Matilda up the Marne au Rhin canal to its summit then down the Canal des Houilleres de la Sarre, This would take us on to the Sarre river and into Germany. Then we would turn left into the Moselle River and back upstream to Luxembourg.

We had a few days relaxing in Nancy before we were to leave and Peter and Helen enjoyed some of the sights of our adopted home city. These beautiful houses detailed in the Art Nouveau style are always an attraction.

Helen and Marg admired the floral arrangements on the bridge at the port which were still in excellent condition so late into the season.

We departed Nancy on Wednesday, Oct 1^st in lovely autumn weather.

Next morning we were stopped when the fog came in and we could not see more than a boat’s length in front.

This finally cleared and we continued on.    
The following day we arrived at the last lock before the summit of the canal’s route to the Rhine River. This lock, Rechicourt is the deepest on the French narrow gauge canal system and was built in the 1960’s to replace a ladder of six smaller locks. It is 15.7 metres deep and uses a huge amount of water (Peter worked out,  3,768,000 litres). Consequently when possible the lock keepers put as many boats in as they can for each operation.

We were put in behind a hire boat with a German family on board, and we just fitted.

 We were soon on the canal lateral to the Sarre (des Houilleres) and admired the open farmland that this canal goes through

 

 Fortifications like these were along the canal as it was part of the Maginot Line, defences that were built after the first world war to protect France from the possibility of another German invasion.

We have been this route before, the last time with Bill and Rhos. That time we stopped at Sarralbe too but we were pleasantly surprised this time with the new moorings that the local authorities have provided.

 

We spent a pleasant evening catching up on mail and generally just relaxing.

We were soon in Sarreguemines. Poor Helen had come down with heavy cold and we spent a few days there for her to recuperate. The weather was not the best so it was easy to do nothing. We were finally underway, on to the Sarre River and in to Germany.

 The Sarre  River (as we are now in Germany we will spell it Saare) is a working waterway and ships such as this collier of 3,000 tonnes were the norm.

 

 These vessels are around 110 metres long and we shared locks with them.

 

We are in an area of Germany that produces some exceptional white wines, both still and sparkling and all the south facing hills were covered with vines. Some of the slopes were so great that workers would have had trouble maintaining their footing. The tractor and trailer with the green buckets are on level ground.

We turned on to the Moselle and in a few days were moored at Remich, in Luxembourg. A short bus ride and we could tour the city and see its attractions.

 The ever present guard at the Royal Palace

Amongst the modern buildings on the city’s perimeter we found the remains of these fortifications, part of a system which in the 18^th century made Luxembourg the most heavily fortified city in Europe

Wherever you look there is evidence of this throughout the city. These were taken out of action in 1839 under the Treaty of London when over 90% of the fortifications were destroyed. Considering what has been left intact there must have been stone walls and cannon everywhere.

We had stayed in Remich before and enjoyed it, but this time we found the people of Luxembourg a little aloof and the quality of service wanting. We ate out twice and had bad service and food both times. Not really impressed.

What did surprise us though was what we found in Germany, on the other side of the river. We went for a stroll following signs that implied there were roman ruins in Nennig and were very surprised with what we found.

 

It had been known for some time that these old walls were part of a very old construction. While working his land around these ruins in 1852, a farmer  uncovered part of a mosaic depicting  a lion. Subsequent archaeological work has established that this amazing floor was in the entrance hall of a palatial building that would have had a frontage of almost 140 metres. The complex included bath houses and a 250 metre colonnade and gardens. The mosaic has been dated to the beginning of the third century AD and was fully restored in 1960.  

It was time for Helen and Peter to head back to Australia and on the 20^th  October we put them on a train in Luxembourg, to Paris to begin their trip home. We have seen a great variety of France and Europe and will have good memories of it all.

We were off now, back to Nancy to settle down for winter.

There will be more to tell, so we will keep in touch.